Redditor carrotcakeblack wins more than a few style points for his “mostly monochrome! Also some keyboards” setup, as he calls it in his post’s title.
But he leaves out one of the factors visitors like most about his well-photographed MacBook Pro-based outfit. Namely, the way he hangs so much of his gear on a pegboard off to one side in such a visually appealing way.
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That and a neat trick with the LED light strip behind the desk, which we’ll get to below.
And of course there’s the customized keyboards.
Innovative storage on the pegboard to the left
Photo: carrotcakeblack@Reddit
If you look to the left side of carrotcakeblack’s desk, you see quite a bit of gear creeping up the wall.
It’s just an Ikea pegboard with hooks. On the top row, light shelving holds some small plants and other household items.
On the next row down they’ve got a second keyboard – a KFE CE mechanical one with Alpaca Linear Switches and a pretty purple casing – to the left of their 2017 MacBook Pro.
On the bottom level there are containers sorting different keyboard switches.
On the desk itself, the prime keyboard and more
All the side storage leaves room on a handsome, dark-stained desk for a spare, Zen-like setup.
A 27-inch Dell UltraSharp display is fixed to a Vivo V-001 desk-mounted monitor stand.
On a lighted acrylic stack sits a Sweet Alice Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with hyperglide switches and Drop GMK custom mechanical key caps.
Photo: carrotcakeblack@Reddit
Do you think this person’s a gamer, what with the mechanical keyboard fetish? You’d think there must be a formidable gaming machine hiding somewhere, unmentioned.
The keyboard sits on a cool-looking Sour x Cannonkeys Weave Deskmat along with a Logitech MX Master 2S Wireless Mouse. Behind it sit Logitech MX Sound 2.0 Multi Device Stereo Speakers.
And if you zoom in on the main pic (top, above), there’s also a neat-o old-school cassette tape art object on its own stand.
The trick with the lighting
Before we forget, carrotcakeblack did something inexpensive but cool with the lighting that makes the main photo work well.
In addition to the Xiaomi monitor light bar illuminating the desk, there are LED light strips behind it.
That’s not uncommon, but a commenter who uses light strips to less effect wondered how carrotcakeblack managed to get so much light from the strips, further up the wall and with a soft glow.
“Ah, the simple trick is to move your desk further away from the wall!” carrotcakeblack explained. “So the light starts to blend together, instead of looking like individual ‘circles.’ I know what you’re referring to.”
Shop these items now:
Computer and monitor:
Keyboards:
- Sweet Alice Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
- Cherry MX Hyperglide Switches
- Drop GMK Custom Mechanical Keycaps
- KFE CE keyboard
- Alpaca Linear Switches
Other peripherals:
Lighting and accessories:
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches or challenges.
